Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA with an 8800GT...no workie?

[ShadowBandit]

So has anyone with this board managed to get an 8800GT working on this mobo? I know the 8800GTS 320, 640, and the 8800 Ultra are officially supported in the VGA list on the Asrock site, but the 8800GT uses a different core than those cards.

Not to mention, this mobo can be really picky, right down to the brand. It took me a bios flash of my Gigabyte X800XT PE to the official ATI bios just to get my card to boot properly on this mobo and now I'm having vidcard problems yet again with the 8800GT I just bought today. It's the 512MB eVGA 8800GT and I'm running the latest bios for my mobo if that makes any difference.

I've been loving this mobo and its ability to allow me to upgrade over time, but man...this thing has been giving me vidcard problems from the first day I got it. Everything else works as it should.

[ShadowBandit]

Just a quick morning bump for my post...

Also, I e-mailed Asrock tech suppport to see what they had to say and got no reply[rolleyes]...

[ShadowBandit]

Well, I got a reply from Asrock's tech support today:

»Subject

New 8800GT cards incompatible with the 4CoreDual-VSTA?

»Problem Description

I just bought one of the new 8800GT cards today to replace my X800XT PE AGP card and it does not seem to work on this board. The 8800 is the 512MB eVGA model. I know this board can be very picky with what cards it can use. My Gigabyte branded X800 for example, did not work until I flashed it to the ATI bios. The X800XT PE is not even listed on the VGA compatibility list, yet after that flash my X800 card has worked flawlessly. The 8800GT is not on the list either, but I figured I would give the card a try anyway.

Everything is hooked up properly, the card's fans spin fine when the system is powered on, but the monitor stays on standby. If I take out the 8800 and put my X800 back in the system, it will boot fine.

The whole purpose of this motherboard is to allow for upgrades in a piece-by-piece manner. Well, this is my GPU upgrade that I plan on using for a while, so it would be great if it worked on this motherboard. Asrock was quite fast about bringing support for the Radeon HD series to this motherboard as well as brining support for the various 8800s. I'm hoping to see a bios update officially adding support for the 8800GT soon, and I'm sure many other budget minded users of this motherboard are too.

Dear ASRock America Customer,

Unfortunately, we do not have Nvidia 8800GT VGA card in our lab, so we cannot provide you a firm answer. Yet there would be a good chance that it might be compatible with the motherboard, since it has the same chipset series (8800) of Nvidia 8800GTS on the support list.

Please refer also to the video card manufacture web site or technical service to have further information on compatible issue on the specified video card.

ASRock America Technical Support
Email: supportjt@asrockamerica.com
Subject: [!! SPAM] $4CoreDual-VSTA$ New 8800GT cards incompatible with the 4CoreDual-VSTA?

Er...I take it that by the part I highlighted that they don't know it uses a different core than the rest of the GF8 series

In any case I hope they get it working. This mobo has support for the rest of the 8 series, so it would be a shame if the best bang for buck card of the bunch didn't work.

[bigjenko]

Theres a thread in this section with some one not able to get his 8800GT working on the motherboard.
Even if it does work dont expect stella performance with my 2900XT it was hugely bottlenecked by the motherboard.
At stock speeds in 3dmark 06

Asrock = 7000
P5K = 10000

And thats at default speeds and the gap increases as the Asus board overclocks great, my old 7900GT got 5500 in 06 which isnt to far of the 2900XT fitted in the same asrock board.

[ShadowBandit]

Yeah, I'm aware of the bottleneck the 4x PCI-E slot on this board will be for the higher end cards. But even if it's not running at its full potential, a bottlenecked 8800GT is bound to be a noticeably large improvement over my aging X800XT PE...

[X_Raided]

There are a few people that are having this issue with the board on other forums. On Guru3d someone got this response from ASRock Tech support.

hi i just received this email from asrock/netherlands support:

Hallo,

laut VGA Support Liste wird die 8800GT leider nicht unterstuetzt.
Derzeit sind aber meine Kollegen von der Research/Development Abteilung dabei 8800GT Karten zu testen.

Sobald es Neuigkeiten – im Guten wie im Schlechten – gibt, melden wir uns wieder.

MfG
ASRock Support


wich basically means that their R&D team is aware of that problem and trying to get the 8800GT working.

greetz from germany

So I guess its just a wait and see type thing.